Fear of Heaven Unit 12 Rambam a Psychological Problem for Religious

Fear of Heaven Unit 12

RaMBaM A psychological problem for religious observance that is particularly indigenous to modern sensibilities.

RaMBaM, Mishneh Tora, Hilchot Yesodei HaTora 1:3 רמב"ם הלכות יסודי התורה פרק א הלכה ג If one would imagine that none of the entities aside from Him exist, He alone would ואם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים מלבדו ,continue to exist מצויים, הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי, ,and the nullification of their (existence) would not nullify His Existence ולא יבטל הוא לבטולם, because all the (other) entities require Him שכל הנמצאים צריכין לו .and He, Blessed Be He, does not Require them nor any one of them והוא ברוך הוא אינו צריך להם ולא לאחד מהם,

Therefore, the Truth of His (Being) does not Resemble the truth of any of their לפיכך אין אמתתו כאמתת אחד מהם. (beings).

אדון עולם1 Adon Olam7 ...ואחרי ככלות הכל, לבדו ימלוך נורא. … And after everything is concluded, He alone will Rule in awesomeness. והוא הי' והוא הוה והוא יהי' בתפארה... And He Was, and He Is, and He will Be in Glory… יגדל2 8 Yigdal ...קדמון לכל דבר אשר נברא. .He Preceded all things that were Created … ראשון ואין ראשית לראשיתו... He Was First and there is no beginning to His Firstness.

Beraishit Rabba, Parashat VaYetze, #68 בראשית רבה )וילנא( פרשת ויצא פרשה סח :R. Hamnuna in the name of R. Ami said ר"ה בשם ר' אמי אמר: Why is there a subsidiary Name for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and He is מפני מה מכנין שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, ?(Called “Makom” (Place וקוראין אותו "מקום"? .That He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His Place שהוא מקומו של עולם, ואין עולמו מקומו, ’This is derived) from the verse, (Shemot 33:21) “Behold there is ‘Makom) מן מה דכתיב )שמות לג:כא( "הנה ”.Place) with Me) מקום אתי," The Holy One, Blessed Be He Is the Place of the world, and the world is not הוי הקדוש ברוך הוא מקומו של עולם, …His Place ואין עולמו מקומו...

Eternal Lord" or "Sovereign of the Universe") is a strictly metrical hymn in the" ;אֲ דֹון עֹולָם :Adon Olam (Hebrew 1 Jewish liturgy written in lines of eight syllables; more precisely, each line is composed of two segments of one yated and 2 tenu'ot, which indeed makes 8 syllables. It has been a regular part of the daily and Shabbat (Sabbath) liturgy since the 15th century... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adon_Olam yighdal; means "Magnify [O Living God]") is a Jewish hymn which ;יִגְדַּ ל :yighdāl, or Hebrew ;יִגְדָּ ל :Yigdal (Hebrew 2 in various rituals shares with Adon 'Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the 13 Articles of Faith (sometimes referred to as "the 13 Creeds") formulated by Moses ben Maimon. This was not the only metrical presentment of the Creeds; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. A translation can be found in any bilingual siddur… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yigdal 7 See fn. 1. 8 See fn. 2.

R. Chaim Paltiel9 s.v. Hineh Makom ר' חיים פלטיאל 3 :In the Midrash Shochar Tov )כא( הנה מקום. בשוחר טוב: ?”Why is the Name of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, i.e., “Makom למה מכנים שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, "מקום"? .Because He is the Place of the world לפי שהוא מקומו של עולם. And I still don’t know—if He Is Secondary to His Place, or His Place is secondary ועדיין איני יודע אם הוא טפל למקומו או .to Him מקומו טפל לו? When it says, “Behold there is a place with Me”, I conclude that His Place is כשהוא אומר "הנה מקום אתי", הוי אומר מקומו טפל לו. secondary to Him.

מהר"ל 4נתיבות עולם, נתיב ג' MaHaRaL,10 Netivot Olam, Netiv 3 אבל התפלה מורה שהאדם נתלה בו יתברך...5 But prayer represents that a person depends upon the Blessed One… 11

שכל ענין התפלה שהוא מתפלל אל השם יתברך Because the entire enterprise of prayer where one prays to HaShem, may He Be לפי שהוא צריך אל השם יתברך, Blessed, is because he needs HaShem, may He Be Blessed, נתלה בו ית', ,he depends upon the Blessed One ואין קיום לו בעצמו כי אם בו ית' and there is no independent existence for him by himself, except by means of the Blessed One. .Therefore he prays to Him for all of his needs ולכך מתפלל אליו על כל צרכו.

Tehillim 123:2 תהלים פרק קכג

3 Chaim Paltiel (known as Paltiel of Falaise) was a French Biblical commentator of the thirteenth century and grandson of the tosafist Samuel of Falaise (Sir Morel). An anonymous commentator on the Pentateuch (Munich MS. No. 62) frequently quotes another commentary (pshatim) on the Pentateuch, the author of which he on one occasion calls "my teacher, Ḥayyim of Falaise"; in other places he speaks of "Ḥayyim," but more often of "Ḥayyim Paltiel." Many passages from Ḥayyim's commentary are given by Isaac b. Judah ha-Levi in his "Pa'aneaḥ Raza" (Munich MS. No. 50). The commentary is called there "Peri 'Eẓ, Ḥayyim," and the author is called "Ḥayyim Paltiel" or, more often, "Paltiel Gaon"; he is also mentioned as teacher of Isaac b. Judah… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Paltiel_%28Paltiel_of_Falaise%29 4 Judah Loew ben Bezalel, alt. Loewe, Löwe, or Levai, (c. 1520 – 17 September 1609)[1] widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, or simply The MaHaRaL, the Hebrew acronym of "Moreinu Ha-Rav Loew," ("Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew") was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who, for most of his life, served as a leading rabbi in the cities of Mikulov in Moravia and Prague in Bohemia. Within the world of Torah and Talmudic scholarship, he is known for his works on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism and his work Gur Aryeh al HaTorah, a supercommentary on Rashi's Torah commentary... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Loew_ben_Bezalel 5 This is illustrated by the middle portion of thirteen blessings in the weekday Amida. While each blessing asks of God something different, the cumulative effect is that, at least in part—see my blog post “Partnering with God” 10/21/15 https://yaakovbieler.wordpress.com/page/2/ ), man must turn to God for his various needs: 1—intelligence; 2—repentance; 3—forgiveness; 4—redemption; 5—physical recovery; 6—financial success; 7—return from exile; 8—reestablishment of Halachic judicial system; 9—punishment of enemies of the Jews; 10—reward for the righteous; 11—rebuilding of Yerushalayim; 12—restoration of the Davidic royal line; 13—positively responding to out prayers. 9 See fn. 3. 10 See fn. 4. 11 See fn. 5.

{Behold, as the eyes of servants unto the hand of their master, {N )ב( הִ נֵּ֨ ה כְע ינ ֵ֢י עֲבָדִִ֡ ים אֶ ל־י ַ֤ד אֲֽדֹונ יהֶ ם ;as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress כְע ינ ֵ֣י שִ פְחָה אֶ ל־י ֵ֢ד גְבִִ֫רְתָָּ֥ ּה כ ֵ֣ ן ע ֵ֭ ינ ינּו .so our eyes look unto the LORD our God, until He Be Gracious unto us אֶ ל־יְקֹוֵָ֣ק אֱֹלקינּו עד שֶ יְחָנ ֵּֽנּו:

”RaDaK s.v. “Hineh KiEinai Avadim רד"ק They have no other source of sustenance and financial support than their )ב( “הנה כעיני עבדים,” שאין להם מחיה masters, and towards them they direct their eyes (and make their ופרנסה אלא מהם, (.requests and pleas ואליהם תלויות עיניהם. 6 And my master my father, Z”L,12 interprets… At the (same) time that they ואדוני אבי ז"ל פירש: “... בעת שיכו אותם, ,punish them, they have no one else towards whom to direct their eyes אין להם למי ישאו עין, אלא להם עצמם שירחמו עליהם וירפו ידם מהם, other than they (the masters) themselves, that they have compassion

upon them (the servants) and soften their hands by removing them

(ceasing the punishments). כן אנחנו, מי הִ כָנּו ומי נְתָ נָנּו בגלות? So too re ourselves, Who Is Punishing us and Who Caused us to be in exile? הקל יתברך, שהוא אדונינו ואנחנו ,God, may He Be Blessed, for He is our Master and we His Servants עבדיו

And we have no one else towards whom to direct our eyes, but only to ואין לנו למי נישא עין אלא אליו שנתננו ,Him Who Caused us to be in exile בגלות, .That He should Have Compassion upon us and Takes us out from there שירחם עלינו ויוציאנו ממנה:

Metzudat David s.v El Yad מצודת דוד ,They look towards the hand of their masters to give them a certain thing )ב( אל יד - צופים אל יד אדוניהם ליתן להם דבר מה, .And they do not cease looking until he gives it to them ואינם חדלים מלצפות עד אשר יתן להם:

MaLBIM s.v. Hineh מלבי"ם :He illustrates this with two highly appropriate parables )ב( "הנה," מציין זה בשני משלים נאותים מאד: ,Behold the servants only lift their eyes towards the hand of their masters (1 1( הנה העבדים אין נושאים עיניהם רק אל יד אדוניהם, Even though this hand sometimes strikes them with a rod, and sometimes שהיד הזאת לפעמים תכם בשבט, ולפעמים תתן להם לחם ומזון, gives them their bread and food.

was a medieval Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator. He was the (יוסף קמחי :Joseph Ḳimḥi (1105–1170) (Hebrew 6 father of Moses and David Kimhi, and the teacher of Rabbi Menachem Ben Simeon. Grammarian, exegete, poet, and translator; born in southern Spain about 1105; died about 1170. Forced to leave his native country owing to the religious persecutions of the Almohades who invaded the Spanish Peninsula in 1146, he settled in Narbonne, Provence, where he spent the rest of his life. The Provence region of southern France, at a time when the local Jewish population was under the considerable influence of the neighboring Spanish-Jewish community to the South. He is known to have written commentaries on all the books of the Bible, though only fragments of his work have survived until today. The foundation of his work is a literal reading of the Hebrew text and its grammatical analysis, interspersed with contemporary philosophical musings. This reflects his opposition to a christological reading of the text, which highlights allegory. In fact, Kimhi participated in several public debates with Catholic clergy, in which he highlighted his own method of reading biblical texts. His opposition to the contemporary His son David, though but a child at the .(ספר הברית) Christian reading can be found in his Book of the Covenant time of his father's death, may also be considered one of Ḳimḥi's pupils, either directly through his works, or indirectly through the instruction he (David) received from his elder brother Moses... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kimhi 12 See fn. 6.

So it is in our issue relating to the LORD, our God, whether He Is HaShem Who כן עינינו אל ה' אלקינו, בין שהוא ה' מרחם, Is Compassionate, whether He is Our God, Judge, and Rebuker and בין שהוא אלקינו הדיין ומוכיח ומיסר, Afflicter, And he says that not only are they like slaves who depend upon the hand of ואומר שלא לבד שנדמה כעבדים אל יד ,their masters, where the master is the First Cause of influence אדוניהם, שהאדון הוא המשפיע ,But also like the eyes of a handmaiden to her mistress (2 הראשון, ,Where the mistress is not the true determiner and First Cause of influence 2( כי גם כעיני שפחה אל יד גבירתה, שהגבירה אינה המשפעת בעצם וראשונה, Because she receives her authorization from the master, כי היא מקבלת מן האדון, Nevertheless, the handmaiden lifts up her eyes towards her, ובכ"ז תשא השפחה עיניה אליה, So it is with our eyes to HaShem, whether we view Him as the Master, Who is כן עינינו אל ה' בין מצד שאנו חושבים אותו ,the First Source of goodness כהאדון שממציא הטוב בראשונה, Whether as the Mistress, Who Is an Intermediary between the one who is the בין כגבירה שהיא אמצעית בין המשפיע First Cause of influence, and the recipient, and Who Extends the good that והמקבל, ומושטת הטוב שקבלה .She Receives and Influences that it be sent to the receiver מהמשפיע ליד המקבל, ,So too You וכן אתה, ,From the fact that You Are HaShem Who Causes existence to all existence (1 1( מצד שאתה ה' מהוה כל הווה, אתה ,You Are the First Cause of Influence and the Producer/Distributer of good המשפיע הראשון וממציא הטוב, And from the fact that You Are our God, Who Watches over us and Extends (2 2( ומצד שאתה אלקינו המשגיח עלינו towards us the good, You Are also the Intermediary Who Extends the good ומושיט לנו את הטוב, towards us in the manner that You both Produce the Good and Direct it to אתה גם האמצעי שמושיט הטוב אלינו ,us באופן שאתה ממציא הטוב וגם המביאו אלינו, So we look (towards You) until You Are Compassionate towards us, even when וכן אנו מצפים עד שיחננו הגם שאין אנו ראוים עפ"י הזכות יעשה זאת מצד we are not worthy with respect to merits, You Do this out of Compassion. החנינה:

Questions for thought and discussion:

1. Why is the desire for independence and self-determination, an attitude that is characteristic of the modern temper, a major factor in deemphasizing belief and commitment to carrying out Mitzvot in all circumstances? 2. One of the fundamental differences between a human ruler and God, is that the former can function only if they have subjects, whereas the latter is the Ruler, regardless if there are subjects to acknowledge His Role. How do some of these sources demonstrate this truism? 3. Why according to MaHaRaL is prayer a quintessential expression of man’s dependence upon God—assuming that man has the proper intention while he is praying? Why could it then be said that the manner in which “Social Orthodoxy” approaches prayer (see https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-rise-of-social-orthodoxy-a-personal- account/ ) would not fulfill such an essential goal? 4. What deep irony is entailed within a Jew’s expressing his dependence upon God in light of R. Yosef Kimchi’s (RaDaK’s father) insight? Why perhaps could this phenomenon, as well as how it is expressed in the rebukes in Parashiot BeChukotai and Ki Tavo, be understood as a reflection of “tough love”? 5. Why for some people, their response to at least some of the treatment of the Jewish people attributable to God would result not in a sense of dependence, but a sense of alienation and rebellion? What determines what sort of reaction will be ultimately elicited?

Practical applications of the sources:

1. Do you sense that your relationship to God is a “dependent one”? If you think it is, how does it manifest itself? If you think that it isn’t, do you think that it should be, and if so, what might you do to enhance such a sensibility?